Given the Evidence - Hardcover

Margaret Barrett; Charles Dennis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671001531 ISBN 13: 9780671001537

Publisher: Pocket Books, 1998

Synopsis

Struggling to prevent an emotional breakdown, Assistant District Attorney Susan Givens witnesses a violent murder that places her at the top of a drug lord's hit list as she begins prosecution of a corrupt banker

About this title

About the Author:

Margaret Barrett is an attorney and writer who lives in New York City.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter One

She stood alone on the terrace. The ferocity of the wind blowing from the East River froze her hand, numbing it. She desperately needed that hand to fire the gun that could save her life.

"You're not gonna shoot me," he said, advancing on her menacingly.

"Why not?" asked the pretty blonde, clasping her left hand over her right to warm it up and get a better grasp on the weapon.

"Cuz your kinda people don't do things like that. You haven't got the killer instinct."

"Don't come any closer," she warned, pushing long strands of hair away from her face. "This is self-defense."

"Hit me with your best shot," he sang tauntingly. "Come on and hit me with your best shot. Let's go, Susan. You better shoot or I'm gonna snap your neck like a twig."

He lumbered toward her, the Incredible Hulk stalking his prey. She shut her eyes and pulled the trigger. Again and again and again.

She opened her eyes and gasped. He was still standing. Blood was pouring from the multiple entry wounds in his powerful torso but he didn't seem to mind.

"My turn," grinned the Hulk, placing his powerful hands on her neck and squeezing the life out of her. "Say bye-bye, Ms. D.A."

Susan screamed. Long and shrilly, which amazed her since the Hulk had effectively cut off any air to her windpipe.

"Mom! Mom! Wake up!"

Susan Given opened her eyes and saw her fourteen-year-old adopted Salvadoran daughter, Polly, standing over her bed.

"What's wrong, Polly? Are you all right?"

"Like, I'm not the one who was screaming, Mom."

"Screaming?" Susan glanced over at the illuminated digital clock on her bedside table. 4:30 A.M. "Jeepers! What are you doing up at this hour, Polly?"

"You woke me, Mom. It was that dream again, wasn't it?"

"What dream?"

"The one where that man's trying to kill you."

"How do you know about that?"

"The dream or the real thing?"

"I'm sorry I woke you, Polly. Please, go back to sleep."

"I wish Michael was here."

'What does Michael have to -- "

"Why did you break up with him?"

"We weren't going together -- "

"Duh! You were sleeping with him, Mom."

"I was not!"

"Mom, I'm not a fool. His agent phoned from Los Angeles one night and when I went to his room to wake him he wasn't there. Where was he? Hmm? Then I heard the noises coming from this room."

"You didn't!! What sort of noises?"

"Smoochy noises. You know."

"Oh,jeepers! You weren't supposed to know about us. I wanted to keep it a secret. Well, not a secret secret but separate. Until..."

"When? After your death?"

"You have a wonderful sense of humor, Polly. Does your father know about us?"

"I didn't tell him. Ivy's the snitch in this family."

"Ivy knows!?" Susan was horrified that her younger daughter -- also adopted, also Salvadoran -- had knowledge of her affair with writer Michael Roth.

"Ivy only knows what time Xena: Warrior Princess comes on. And what time the candy store on Lex closes."

"Where is she now?" asked Susan, looking around for her ten-year-old daughter in the semidarkness.

"Fast asleep. Nothing wakes her. So why'd you break up with him?"

"I didn't," replied Susan stubbornly. "Michael and I are just on a break from each other."

"You're weird, Mom."

"Thank you for your loyalty."

"Oh, God! " groaned Polly. "You're so New England! You need help. If you broke your arm, you'd go to a doctor. You're having a breakdown."

"I am not having a breakdown."

"Even Dad thinks -- "

"I don't care what your father thinks, Polly. He and I are not -- "

"He is a shrink, Mom, and he feels, after what you've been through, you could use a little help."

"I...don't...need...any...help!"

Copyright © 1999 by Rangeoff-Century, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0671001531
• ISBN 13: 9780671001537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342